

Walking into the pediatric ward of Sheba Children’s Hospital, I saw Sohaib standing in the corridor with his mother. What a joy to see Sohaib walking again. Praise God! He’s doing pretty well. The doctors and nurses are very satisfied with the process Sohaib has made in the last few weeks.
The doctor told me that Sohaib already could be discharged, but they want to monitor him until the beginning of the next week because of a medication that possibly could cause fever.
Let us pray that Sohaib remains afebrile and actually can be discharged in the next days.
As I was going to visit our children today in Sheba Hospital, a Nurse came towards me with Sohaib’s mother, pushing him in his stroller.
Sohaib is doing very well and as a result, has been moved to the Department of Pediatrics. This is hopefully a good step towards him leaving the hospital. The doctors are thinking about discharging him in a few days if he is still doing fine.
Lets hope that this hope will be fulfilled and that he can go home soon.
Sohaib had a CT Scan on Thursday in Sheba Hospital. He seemed really calm during the procedure. Only his fast moving eyes were showing that he was nervous.
His mom is taking good care of him, animating him to sit, play and eat and even doing gymnastics with him.
Today the doctors said they are pleased with his progress and God willing, he can be discharged in a few days.
Yesterday evening we brought another child to Sheba Hospital for her surgery today. She was getting admitted in the room where Sohaib stayed before, and so I directly asked where Sohaib is now, and they surprised me with the good news that he is moved to the secondary ICU!!
When I visited him today I was absolutely amazed. He is looking so much better than last week. He is sitting in his bed, reacting to his mother, she even helped him to stand up a little bit.
Later, his mother was walking with him in the stroller through the hospital. She is such a wonderful mother who spends so much time with her child, plays with him, talks to him and shows him how much she loves him. To see her love for her child is so beautiful! I’m sure that she has such a big part in why he is improving so well now. The doctors are also very happy about Sohaib’s recovery since his last surgery, and want to give him more time until they decide what is coming next.
Thank you God for this cute little boy and for his amazing mother who is caring so wonderfully for her child!
Today was the first time after his surgery that I saw Sohaib a little awake. His mom was helping him to sit up a little bit and he looked much better than the last time I saw him.
But still he is not really alert and his doctors are a little concerned about this. He doesn’t react to someone saying his name or to his mother. The only thing where I could tell that he is at least a little bit realizing what is happening around him was when his mother showed him some videos and he was following the phone with his eyes when she moved it.
The doctor think that all of this could be because he still gets so much medications. So for the next time they plan to reduce those and watch how he reacts to that.
Thank you for praying for our Sohaib and that he will improve soon!
Sohaib is looking so much better today as he bounces back from his third surgery. His eyes are open and he seems aware of his mother’s presence. Doctors are hoping as he improves to assess whether he can have a final repair of his heart during this visit to Israel, or if he should return home for a period of at least six months.
His mother’s preference is to stay in Israel until all is completed.
After some neurological worries at Sheba Hospital for Sohaib yesterday, today brought the amazing news that the repetitive involuntary movements Sohaib has been experiencing are not seizures. We are very thankful for that. His mom told me also quite happily, that he is already doing much better than yesterday.
The doctors think that his problems were most likely coming from the withdraw of his medications. It sounds a little ridiculous, but now he is receiving some other medications to solve this problem. His doctor explained to me that this is completely normal and that it will help him.
I had some good time with his mother and another Kurdish mother eating lunch together, and I am always glad to spend time with Sohaib’s mom. Thank you for all your prayers for our little friend Sohaib and for his mother!
Sohaib’s birthday was yesterday and today, at Sheba Hospital, he was extubated.
We would appreciate your prayers for this brave soldier.
Sohaib had his third surgery today, the surgery was successfully completed in four hours.
The doctors at Sheba Hospital decided after Sohaib’s cath yesterday, that he will need another surgery. They want to tighten the band around his pulmonary artery which they placed in his last surgery. If this fails or doesn’t help, they want to place – as a second step – a patch over his VSD. He will already go into this surgery tomorrow morning.
For Sohaib’s mother, this wasn’t easy to hear, but she is thankful that the doctors don’t give up on Sohaib and she is trusting in God.
God please give the doctors success tomorrow and let this third surgery finally help Sohaib to improve.
Sohaib isn’t doing so well after the weekend at Sheba Hospital. His kind doctor told me today that Sohaib has very high blood pressure in his lungs. Because of this, it’s not possible for enough blood to flow from his heart to his lungs. For now, they gave him more oxygen support but if this doesn’t help, they will most likely start a new medication for him.
Also the doctors realized some movements in Sohaib lately that they suspect may be seizures. So they connected him now to a device which will track if he really is having seizures and they asked a neurologist to have a look at him.
Sohaib’s mother is still very worried and kept asking the doctor when Sohaib will wake up again. Lord I pray that you heal this little boy and comfort his faithful mother!
When I reached the ICU at Sheba hospital early this morning, Sohaib’s mother was waiting anxiously for the doctors to take Sohaib into surgery. The surgeon had just arrived to speak with her. He explained that Sohaib may have developed endocarditis, a serious infection in the muscle of the heart, and that they would need to remove the patch they placed over his VSD in his first surgery. He asked me to explain to her that it would be a very difficult surgery and she should be prepared in case Sohaib came out on the ECMO machine.
Sohaib’s mother took all of this with remarkable grace and strength. As the room began to fill with doctors and nurses preparing Sohaib for the trip to the OR, she went to his bedside and stood beside him, holding his hands in her own.
Together with the doctors, we walked him to the OR entrance, where she kissed his little hands and waved goodbye before he was wheeled through the doors.
We waited outside the ICU all morning, joined by several mothers from Gaza who shared breakfast and words of encouragement with Sohaib’s mother. She showed me photos and videos of Sohaib at home in Kurdistan and during his stay in Israel, including one from the emergency room the night he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Even with an oxygen mask strapped to his chubby face, Sohaib was dancing along to music.
After just four hours, one of the other mothers came out of the ICU with the news that Sohaib was back in his room. I went in first to look and sure enough, there he was, no ECMO machine in sight! As soon as I gave her a thumbs-up signal that all was well, his mother hurried to his side and kissed his hands again and again.
Thank God, Sohaib’s surgery was uneventful and successful. His cardiologist told me that she was pleasantly surprised by how well he is doing after the operation. In addition to removing the patch, the surgeons placed a band to limit blood flow to the pulmonary arteries and relieve some of the pressure on them. The doctors will wait and see how he recovers in the coming days and consider the next steps for him.
When coworker Margarita and I visited Sohaib at Sheba Hospital today, a nurse told us that the doctors decided to take Sohaib into surgery tomorrow. They want to remove a patch that they placed during his last surgery because they fear that it causes some infections.
Also they want to place a band around his pulmonary artery so that there is less blood flow to the lungs and it is easier for the pulmonary valve to expand. His mother is very worried about Sohaib and the surgery tomorrow. I told her that we are praying for her and she was very thankful for that.
So let us pray that Sohaib’s surgery will go well tomorrow, and that it will fix the problems.
His mother is strong and courageous as she deals with these setbacks, but the prospect of another surgery is very frightening. Today she listened to videos of Psalm 11 and 139 in Kurdish. Please pray that the words of the psalmists and God’s transcendent peace will be with her as she endures this difficult time with her beloved son.
Bria and I found Sohaib’s mother looking sad and isolated by his bedside in the ICU this afternoon. But a discussion with the attending nurse, translated by their neighbor and friend back in Iraq, soon brought a ray of hope. Doctors are now planning to take Sohaib for catheterization on Tuesday, both to study what is blocking the blood flow in his heart (possibly vegetation growth or a blood clot), and God willing to intervene and remove it.
Please join us in praying not only for Sohaib, but also for the encouragement of his mother.
Having stayed with Sohaib’s mother during his surgery a few weeks ago, I was grateful to be scheduled to stay with his mother for his catheterization procedure at Sheba Hospital today. Sohaib and his mother have had a difficult few days in the ICU after Sohaib’s oxygen plummeted while I was checking saturation levels of our kids staying with us in our Ashdod community home on Sunday night. Just the day before, Sohaib was running and smiling at another child’s birthday party, particularly enamored with a giant gold balloon. After seeing Sohaib and his mother in the hospital that night, I was eager to see them again.
Unfortunately, when arriving at the hospital today, we received news that Sohaib had a fever. We quickly went up the stairs to Sohaib’s room, and found his mother distraught. Due to his fever today, his catheterization had to be rescheduled. This procedure will help determine why Sohaib’s condition suddenly deteriorated. It will help see if pulmonary hypertension or a reopened septal defect is the cause of this trouble and will guide his treatment. Fervent prayer is needed for Sohaib and his mother.
Sohaib has had a very difficult 48 hours. The doctors intubated him this morning with the hope that he would stabilize, but he has remained unstable. In the echo this morning, they found that his ASD is still not completely fixed after surgery, which is the main reason his oxygen levels dropped so low just two days ago. Before Sohaib arrived in Israel, we were told he was beyond help, yet the Lord moved steadily through the medical staff at Sheba to keep him alive. We are in need of the Lord’s help again today.
Little Sohaib had a big drop in is oxygen levels, as low as 30% of normal while staying at our Ashdod community house this evening. An ambulance was ordered and Sohaib was rushed from our community house accompanied by coworker Tatiana and Sohaib’s mother, to the Children’s ER of Sheba Hospital. Tatiana says they worked on calming Sohaib down during the ambulance transfer.
Sohaib is sedated now and his oxygen level is up again to around 70%. The doctors believe Sohaib may have been dealing with pulmonary hypertension; he will be admitted to the ICU where he will be monitored and observed throughout the night.
Today Sohaib was discharged from Sheba Medical Center, to our house in Ashdod. After a few tests with good results, Sohaib was able to return to all the new friends he made in the last few weeks in Ashdod.
Sohaib’s test results determined he had an allergic reaction to a specific medication. Sohaib had a follow-up echo on Monday to assist doctors in seeing how they may effectively continue to help Sohaib.
This morning, Sohaib was brought to the operating room at Sheba Medical Centre. Diagnosed with ventricular septal defect, he traveled with his mother from a refugee camp in Kurdistan for this difficult surgery: a procedure which was considered unfeasible by his doctors in Northern Iraq. Yet, by God’s orchestration, the green light for surgery was given after a second look from the doctors at Sheba.
When I first arrived at the ICU with Quinlan, Sohaib was restless, but under the steadfast care of his mother. The minutes leading up to surgery passed like hours, but the doctors were attentive and calming as they wheeled him into the operating room. “We are praying for Sohaib.” Quinlan said to Sohaib’s mother. “In God’s will,” she replied through tears.
It was a long, difficult wait in the lobby, though she was encouraged by a visit from Brwa’s mother, whose conversation helped keep her mind occupied. Finally, at noon joyful news came: Sohaib did marvelously! The doctor only needed to say, “Ok” and immediately, his mother embraced Quinlan in relief. They were able to successfully close all of the holes between the two lower ventricles of his heart.
They will wait until tomorrow to extubate Sohaib to make sure he remains stable overnight. Please pray for continued healing in this young boy’s heart. We are overjoyed that Sohaib has made it this far when it seemed the door had nearly closed for him!
Handsome little Sohaib was discharged from Sheba hospital today after a successful diagnostic cath yesterday. The doctors weren’t sure if surgery would be possible for him, but after the cath and a special 3D echo today, they have decided to operate next week. Please pray for Sohaib as he goes to a difficult surgery.
Today, Sohaib had his first diagnostic cath at Sheba Hospital, and the results are hopeful. The process took two hours and the surgeons were very optimistic about the procedure.
Today Coworkers Bria, Joanne and I, picked up little Sohaib and his mother from Ben Gurion Airport. He is a nice little guy with Ventricular Septal Defect and pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply the lungs). His condition is pretty complicated and serious. As soon as possible he will have a catheterization at Sheba Hospital and after that, the doctors will decide if his heart is operative or not. Sohaib is a very cute little guy and mother is a very kind and nice person.
Please bless these two and pray for wisdom for the doctors.